French Sixth Republic
The French Sixth Republic is a major pwoer in the post-Capitalistic age and the leader of the Eurocommunist bloc including many Western and Northern European countries. Founded in the aftermath of the successful May 1968 revolution against the Gaullist regime, the Sixth Republic leads its European allies in the preservation of a somewhat democratic regime but with a clear Communist majority in each legislature. The system was clarified in line with the Soviet influences in the 1960s PCF to be presidential with a unicameral legislature. The President holds most executive power and is elected by popular vote every five years. History During the invasion of Hungary by the Soviet Union, rightist factions in the French Communist Party lead by Charles Tillon and Boris Souvarine successfullly convinced the politburo to take a predominantly anti-Soviet stance distance itself from the Soviet bloc, re-uniting the Marxists with the other elements of the left and undermining the popularity of the post-Structuralist intellectuals. to compensate for increased dispute in the politburo, center-Communists under Jacques Duclos proposed a system in which expulsions from the central committee would take a 75% marign, encouraging a rowdy, parliamentarian system in the politburo but also feeding unity and preventing the party from splintering. In the wake of the Cuban Missile Crisis, the party gained in polls. In 1968, the wildcat strike action gained the party's full support and party leaders largely took control over the popular student and workers movement. The far-right reactionary regime elected in the United States in light of humiliating defeats blunderously coordinated its European allies towards intervention in the conflict, the threat of which popularized the movement and spelled the downfall of De Gaulle. Mainstream trade unions and moderate politicians threw their weight behind the strike action, forcing de Gaulle's resignation and immediate presidential elections. PCF leader Jacques Duclos won the 1968 elections by 60%, a victory contributed to by a series of shrewd maneuvers that the right could not adequately respond to. Duclos, to attract moderate votes, created the "Open Question" platform, promising vague improvements in certain areas but leaving the precise way that could be accomplished to public discussion following his election. Moderates, who wrongly believed their numbers could overwhelm the Communists, were comforted. The platform also unified his party and the leftists led by Juquin. Furthermore, Duclos ran on a campaign of ideas, advancing pragmatic solutions that seemed intelligent with the support of qualified leftist academics to everyday problems which drew in center voters. Political change was grassroots with works by leftist politicians and intellectuals disseminating through universities, trade unions, and sympathetic authors and journalists. The nail in the coffin was an effective PCF campaign to smear the Gaullist opposition by accusing them of attempting to cooperate with reactionaries in the United States and Spain to restore a counter-revolutionary administration. Duclos immediately set out to consoldiate the revolution and avoid a cycle. Understanding that open alignment with the Soviet Union would be unpopular, he offered the "Equal Proposition", an offer of cooperation to any country that would take it. China and the USSR were quick to accept whereas the counter-revolutionaries in the United States refused the offer with disgust, therefore accomplishing the PCF's alignment interests without public backlash. Strategy and rational choice dictated that the USSR and France had an unequal relationship where the USSR reinforced the fledgling French Communist administration in its security needs but could not stop the French from developing their own ideology to break from Soviet domination. Open Question discussions in the PCF and its coalition to streamline thought developed the distinct ideology of Eurocommuism. Incorporating anti-linearalist elements of postmodern authors who held great influence in the French academia, Eurocommunism endorsed democracy, an end Duclos and his pragmatic allies made sure exited to encourage alignment from socialist governments in Scandinavia. Eurocommunism focused more on the middle class and established a "practical hierarchy" where the most educated naturally had positions of greater esteem, displacing the bureaucratic emphasis of Marxism-Leninism and contributing to the success of the French education system. Finally, reaction against the cavalier French interventionism and fashoda syndrome of the past, coupled with the rational reality of needing to curtail the military's power created a distinct anti-militaristic element in Eurocommunism. The new government immediately created re-distribution campaigns and instituted dirigism and nationalization to stabilize the economy and gain popular and middle class support. It also pursued foreign policy goals to ensure re-election: Duclos engineered a conflict with Francoist Spain that precipitated in a border war in which Spain was handily defeated with the help of a communist fifth column. The consequent Eurocommunist coups in Spain and Portugal placed them under the French orbit, while France acquisced to a successful Basque and Catalan separatist movement to avoid conflict with the Soviet union. The perceived excellent handling of the Spanish war created a Falklands factor in which the formerly uncertain re-election of the Communists became a given. During this period, Scandinavia and the Netherlands also subscribed to Eurocommunism, bandwagoning on French success and being forced to choose between French democratic domination and that of the dictatorial Soviet Union. Ideology See: Eurocommunism Eurocommunism differs from Soviet Socialism in a number of areas. #Class theory: Eurocommunists believe that there is a disconnect between the Marxist theory of class struggle and the idea of a classless society. Rather, they believe that there is a least-worst-option dillema in each class struggle and that successive struggles are unpredictable. Seeing the "economic failures" of Soviet Communism compelled Eurocommunists to create a "hierarchy of education" where the most educated formed a de facto upper class. #Full Communism: Eurocommunists think that the state already has withered away upon a socialist revolution and that the "dictatorship of the proletariat" creates an artificial construct dividing the withering of the state with the pragmatic need for the state to exist, necessarily meaning it's inescapable becaue it is impossible to overcome the Machiavellian laws of politics with the state exists. Therefore, "Communal values" need to be increased: France emphasizes democracy and reward for charitable giving, believing that individual thinking needs to be changed to be more collective before the state can be unnecessary. #Non-militarism: In its early years, the Sixth Republic was under constant threat of military coup by reactionary officers. Furthermore, it understood it could never challenge the USSR and USA militarily and needed to play them against eachother and operate diplomatically. Communist authors also believed the chauvinistic interventions of past regiems soldified them, citing de Gaulle and Napoleon III as examples of leaders who increased their power by feeding French pride and intervening in conflicts that had nothing to do with direct French interests. As a pragmatic sanction, Eurocommunism detested militarization. #Dialectical materialism: Eurocommunists think this is oversimplified and that a Kantian dialectic is more appropriate than a binary, false dichotomy Hegelian dialectic. Material is valuable but can be stimulated or mitigated in need based off the quality and passion for ideas. Academic work and the marketplace of thought therefore are valuable too. #Meritocracy: Eurocommunists think this is intuitive and "to each according to his need" pretends it isn't without actual basis. Welfare programs in France are strong but production is rewarded, an unorthodox development for Communism. #Contributory Property: Property is not intuitive, but the idea that it cannot be stole and the commons need be maintained is. Eurocommunists hold that "property" as an idea is possessive and leads to waste but give licenses to lend land from the communes based off which worker councils best maintain it and agree to use it. The overall effects of Eurocommunism have been increased economic prosperity, a powerful space program, and resistance to militarization.